Haiti still struggles two years after quake

Euronews

Two years after the devastating earthquake which flattened much of Haiti, thousands of its people say little progress has been made towards helping the nation recover.

Despite millions of euros worth of donations, cholera and squalor are still rife.

NGO worker Otelier Herma said: “Two years on and nothing has been done in the poorest neighbourhoods. We have found that there has been no policy for housing and that’s why so many people have died.”

Around 250,000 Haitians were killed and one million left homeless when the 7.0 magnitude quake struck. They were given shelter in camps with the promise of a future with schools, health centres and new homes.

Becky Wett from the Red Cross explained the agency’s work in Haiti: “Two years after the anniversary, up to 250,000 people are still living in camps on Haiti, just like this one in Mais Gate. The Red Cross has been working to de-congest camps, which means helping families leave the camps they are in and move to a more dignified, more appropriate, more sustainable solution.”

Disagreements over how to use foreign aid mean that few new or renovated buildings have emerged from the rubble. The government slogan after the disaster of “rebuild better “ rings hollow today.